Printer drivers color management

From ColorWiki

When printing target images used for profiling printers, it is important that no color management (no use of profiles) is occurring in the printing workflow. Making an accurate printer profile will require a target that represents the raw color output of the printer without anything else making color decisions. To this end, any program or application that is being used to print must have any use of profiles disabled, and in addition, the printer driver must also have its color management option disabled.

Here are some steps for ensuring that color management is turned off in the printer driver. These instructions are applicable to the making of RGB printer targets. (CMYK profiling targets are handled in a different way.)

The printer driver dialog shows up when a program is told to send an image to the printer.

Windows

<---- A typical Windows driver looks like this.

This is an example of an Epson 3880 driver on a Windows 7 operating system. Other printers on other (especially older) operating systems may show slightly different features.

[] The color section is usually found in Preferences or Advanced. In this example, choose the "Preferences" button

<-- [] Under Mode, change from Automatic to Custom

[] Change Color Controls to Off (No Color Adjustment)

Mac

<---- A Mac driver will look like this.

This is an Epson 4900 printed through Mac OS 10.6.

[] Under Print Settings, click on the Basic tab

[] For Color Mode choose "Off (No Color Management)

Some Mac systems have a bug in the workflow that will apply color management even when you have it correctly turned off as described above. See Tech Support Grab Bag for more information on a work around for this issue.

While you're at it, see our section on the Yellow Square test to make sure color management is turned off in the print.